Inexpensive Lighting Kits
for Home Portrait Setups

My opinion is that you'll end up using flash for portraits. Because continuous lights are relatively dim, and typically require slow shutter speed at high ISO and a wide open lens. Instead, I'm speaking here of more formal portraits with flash, more like ISO 100 and f/8 and 1/200 second.

Questions about acquiring the cheapest possible continuous light kit for home portraits are very frequently seen on forums (everyone seems to start with a similar thought).

Would it improve my indoor portraits, and have any value in learning and experimenting with lighting technique? Or is it such poor quality that I should just avoid it?

The issue is about continuous lights typically being too dim for proper use with portrait settings indoors (the Sun is the exception). And hot large light bulbs are a real pain, our subjects may tend to sweat, but the problem is such 500 watt bulbs are still dim for photography. In the brightest part of your house, maybe a well lighted kitchen or bathroom, count the watts of all the bulbs, and then try a normal sunshine daylight exposure (EV 15 at ISO 100 f/16 1/125 second, i.e., Sunny 16), and see what you get.

Continuous lights can be very good for table top or still life, possibly even preferred then, because we can see continuous light to adjust and judge the lighting, and also, the camera can meter it (and zero recycle time between shots). Then it is no problem to necessarily use a long shutter speed to accumulate sufficient light. But artificial continuous is simply insufficient light for portraits of humans. Humans move, especially kids, and we need a faster shutter speed. You will struggle with 500 watts, tying to make all your maximums work (1/30 second f/2.8 ISO 400). It never really does. It can be better if willing to crank ISO up a few stops even higher. But keep the lights turned OFF at every opportunity. Two of these bulbs mimic a 1000 watt room heater. The subject literally tends to sweat. More details about differences in flash and continuous (2 pages there, this is the second, adding the final "a").

A speedlight flash (like a $85 Yongnuo YN-560 IV) is rated by Guide Number, regular fully powered is GN 92/28 (feet/meters) at ISO 100, 24 mm zoom (advertised as GN 190/58 feet/meters at 105 mm). That means maximum power direct flash at f/9.2 at 10 feet, ISO 100 (or f/18.4 at 5 feet), at any shutter speed up to camera maximum sync speed, probably 1/200 second. It will be a couple of stops less in an umbrella, but the flash is still very usable. This is greatly more light than the continuous light bulbs at 1/30 second f/2.8 ISO 400, maybe four stops more light (like day and night). An umbrella is used "close as possible" anyway, to be a soft light. Plus you can turn a flash down when its too much, and it will Not heat up your room, and its speed stops motion better than shutter speed can (is called speedlight).

See some inexpensive kits below of two umbrellas and two light stands for your added speedlights.

Studio lights have better studio features than speedlights. They are designed to mount all manner of lighting modifiers like umbrellas, softboxes, grids, snoots, etc. Good ones are fan cooled, etc. And they offer more power. Studio lights are rated as watt seconds of electrical energy input. (Power is the energy used in a specified time, like one second.) A regular fully powered speedlight will compare at about 75 watt seconds. Some speedlights are a little smaller, and some studio lights are much bigger (and too big can be a bigger problem than too small... we can only turn them down so much, but we can always increase ISO a little)...

Umbrellas vs softboxes

• A similar size light at the same distance has light quality that is very similar, regardless if umbrella or softbox. This is not the comparison we seek, because quality (soft or hard light) only depends on size and distance. Bigger and closer is softer, smaller and further are harder lights. We are comparing similar sized units. A good rule of thumb is that a light with diameter approximately the same size as its distance to subject will be a very satisfactorily soft light. Like a 40 or 48 inch light about 4 or 5 feet from the subject will be soft, regardless if umbrella or softbox. Spilled light is the big difference in these.
• A shoot-though umbrella looses about half of its light power compared to a reflected umbrella. About 2/3 is reflected, and about 1/3 goes though, which is a 2 to 1 difference, one stop. Worse, the 2/3 light reflected from a shoot-though is a strong and terrible rear spill into the room. For that reason, my notion is that shoot-though is normally used very close, like 12 or 18 inches, closer than a reflected umbrella can be placed, when needed. The very close forward light is much stronger relative to any distant room wall reflection, so the spill becomes insignificant and really doesn't cause much trouble then. A softbox can be placed very close too, little spill. But out at 4 or 5 feet, the reflected umbrella has advantages over shoot-through, twice as strong, and its black cover prevents any rear spill (the black cover does not help the forward light, but it absorbs the rear spill). Speedlights may not have quite enough power to use f/11 in an umbrella at portrait distances (4 or 5 feet, ISO 100), but f4 or f/5.6 should work well at their higher power levels (portrait lights are typically placed "as close as possible", regardless of light type, for the added softness that close offers. Close Looks Large).
• Speedlights are easily mounted in umbrellas, and work very well there. I mount them at full shaft length and use 24 mm zoom, to fill the umbrella. This works because larger umbrellas have longer shafts. Shoot-through can be mounted up closer, since relative to the subject, they are smaller, light from their outer edges are not aimed at the subject anyway. But reflected redirects it all back inward. That is definitely something to consider.
• Softboxes don't have much downside, other than speedlights are an issue in a softbox. Not so much because of power, but because speedlight mounting is a special problem (normally the studio light mounts and holds the softbox). But also because of the Fresnel lens on speedlights restrict their light to maybe a 80 degree beam (24 mm zoom), which probably just lights a circular spot on the front fabric. Studio lights are used bare-bulb (no reflector) in softboxes, for that 180 degree beam, which uses the softbox as a big reflector, as designed. Softboxes have reflective sides for this scattering purpose, but speedlights don't have that width. This is very definitely a difference. There is absolutely nothing wrong with umbrellas, and they certainly seem easier and better for speedlights.
• Softboxes may have substantially more assembly time at each use (than umbrellas), unless you can store them assembled. Softboxes normally have less frontal spill than umbrellas, and the catch light reflection in the subjects eyes can be seen better (a smooth rectangular softbox image, or a circular pattern showing umbrella spokes). But umbrellas work very well too, the actual light from a 40 inch device is pretty much the same either way.

  I started with this Smith Victor 45" UK2 Umbrella Kit with two of my speedlights, and it was a great choice. I'd do it again in an instant, except I already have it. That was several years ago, and I also have a 40 inch softbox now, but still also use this same umbrella kit too. See some portrait lighting setup ideas. And especially in studio situations, also get a White Balance card to make white balance be a trivial issue.

Speedlights do work well in umbrellas (see Mounting Speedlights in Umbrellas). Compared to studio lights, speedlights are relatively low power (typically equivalent to 60 or probably 75 watt seconds), but umbrellas are normally used very close anyway (main light essentially as close as possible, for the soft light). The built-in speedlight reflector is no disadvantage for umbrellas ((24 mm zoom is 78x60 degrees, and I normally use 24 mm mounted at full umbrella shaft length). Do think reflected umbrellas, IMO shoot-through is a very special case only for very close distances, due to excessive spill, wasting 2/3 of the power out the back side (but the shoot-through can be placed VERY close, when it may not matter). See some speedlight power examples.

You can use Maximum Shutter Sync Speed (often 1/200 second) with flash, but up close, with the reflected umbrella fabric at about four feet from subject (and at ISO 100), stopping down more than to f/8 might be difficult for speedlights. (Qualification, you might use f/16 with the umbrella very close for macro, but portrait views usually need the light stand pole at about 2 feet, which puts the fabric at about 4 feet). Just trying to say you may prefer f/5.6 for the faster recycle speed, as recycle can be slow at maximum power level. You will normally want manual flash mode or manual units for portrait work. Then my choice for indoor portraits is to use a PC sync cord to nearest light (normally the fill light near the camera) and optical slaves on all others (but radio triggers work too, see Triggering).

Compact fluorescent lamps: Fluorescent efficiency is higher than incandescents, and we do see kit fixtures with maybe five 28 watt CFL bulbs which is 140 watts total, which is roughly the equivalent light of a 500 watt incandescent, but with only 140 actual watts. So cooler heat, but not any brighter — shutter speed still decimates the watt seconds, so you'll still need low shutter speed, high ISO, and wide aperture. Physically, these seem a misfit in an umbrella, they seem to miss the idea. Seems just something easy to make and sell, but hardly a smart design. In the picture at right (intended as a Bad example), how much of the light can hit the umbrella? How much will be spill light out the side? Do realize what the picture shows. Some light does go into the umbrella, but most of the light goes out the side, spill flooding the room, but missing the umbrella and the subject altogether. A speedlight does work fine in an umbrella (typically 24 mm zoom mounted at full shaft length in a reflected umbrella, which should have the black cover on it). But this side loss is one reason CFL seems a deficient plan in umbrellas. Some type of flood light bulb maybe, but they don't have high power compared to a flash. A speedlight flash at 24 mm zoom seems much better fitted.

CFL bulbs make much better sense in a softbox (which is a reflector to direct all the light forward). This scattering is good inside a softbox to diffuse it. This degree of continuous light is still marginally usable for photography. You'll still be hoping to work at ISO 400 1/60 second f/2.8 (if the light is placed close enough).

See more discussion and samples of this flash vs. continuous light difference.

Spectrum: CFL bulbs come in colors, Warm, Cool, Daylight, but their color is not as "complete" or perfectly matched as incandescent or flash. Even if the CFL lamp is called "Daylight", no fluorescent has a continuous color spectrum, which makes matching White Balance be a harder problem, an exact match is never possible. Because of this, fluorescent lamps have a CRI rating (Color Rendering Index). Their spectrum is a few discrete lines vs. a continuous spectrum. When choosing fluorescent bulbs, a high rating (CRI 80+) has better color — not perfect, but better, pretty close, often nearly acceptable. CRI is Not about color like Daylight or Warm or Cool, but is about quality of the light due to its incomplete spectrum. CRI is very important about fluorescent or LED, but unnecessary about incandescent or sunlight or flash. A lower CRI is poor for color photography (and also poor in the closet where the wife selects her clothing — to see color correctly, she wants high CRI too, CRI 80+). Perhaps high CRI is often "good enough", most colors will look OK, but the colors not in its spectrum won't look right. In contrast, incandescent lamps do have a continuous spectrum and incandescent is the definition of theoretical maximum CRI 100. Incandescent may be orange, which we adapt to, but it can easily be matched, all of the spectrum is present (tungsten filaments). Sunshine is continuous too, and flash is very close, but fluorescent and LED lights simply are not continuous spectrum.

But the biggest problem is that artificial continuous light is not very bright photographically. Unless you are Hollywood and can provide big generators and really HUGE lights. 😊 The only reason they do it is because movies require continuous lights.

This is why flashes are routinely used for portraits. Sure, everyone is attracted to the low price of the incandescent continuous lights at first, but due to low light levels (and heat), those buyers either give up, or they turn to flash (except maybe for the still life mentioned). Continuous lights are simply not sufficient light for any major photographic use.

Studio flash models typically range from 150 to 1200 watt seconds, some are 2400 watt seconds. 150 to 300 watt seconds is an ideal value for home indoor portraits. There are bigger uses that need more power (typically in sunlight or for greater distances), but you will still turn 150 watt seconds down for umbrella or softbox portraits (if the lights are placed appropriately close to be a soft light). And frankly, bigger flashes can be a real problem being able to turn them down enough. The color typically shifts toward red then too.

The way to compare lights is that doubling watt seconds is one stop brighter. Same way when using them, turning them down to half power is one stop less exposure. So 150 watt seconds is one stop more power than a speedlight (one stop is a lot). The studio light also recycles faster, and has a fan to allow rapid shooting, and accepts many more lighting modifiers (softboxes, etc). In many cases, it may even cost less than a fancy branded speedlight.

Umbrellas are used at close range, and speedlights do work in umbrellas. The speedlights with guide number about 98/30 feet/meters at 24 mm zoom (78x60 degree coverage) are about 75 watt seconds. The smaller models might be 50 or 60 ws. Zoomed longer is a concentrated smaller beam into a smaller coverage, which is greater guide number, but still the same watt seconds. Watt seconds of a flash is computed as 1/2 CV², where C is flash capacitor capacitance in farads, and V is the full charge voltage of the capacitor. Watt seconds is the electrical input energy (not the light output energy). A Nikon SB-800 flash uses a 1400 µfd capacitor charged to 325 volts, which 0.5 × 0.0014 × 325² computes 73.9 watt seconds of energy. And if comparable reflectors are used (with same angular coverage), it also compares that way to a studio flash. The smaller speedlights with guide number 75/23 at 24 mm may be about 50 watt seconds. Again, watt seconds is the electrical energy input. Light output can depend on efficiency.

Speedlights can be relatively inexpensive, like a manual Yongnuo YN-560 would be good for umbrella use, and is $59 to $85 depending on version II, III, or IV) and is rated as full power at GN 92/28 (feet/meters) at ISO 100, 24 mm zoom, and maybe about 75 watt seconds (advertised as GN 190/58 feet/meters at 105 mm, but an umbrella will use 24 mm).

The speedlight is smaller than studio flash, and so is used more near full power when in an umbrella, slightly marginal power with a couple seconds recycle time, but it does work fine. It has limits (low power, slow recycle, easily overheats if shooting fast, cannot mount most light modifiers) Speedlights do work well in an umbrella, or you might even mount two in one umbrella for double power. Fully powered speedlight portraits at ISO 100 f/8 1/200 second in close white reflected umbrellas are possible if not too distant (using lower power would need wider aperture, but lower power would recycle faster between shots).

A 150 watt second studio light in a softbox is probably turned down to 1/2 or 1/4 power anyway (if up close, depending on distance). A 320 watt second light is turned down even more. But a larger light will be necessary in some cases, like in bright sun or for greater distance (lighting the basketball court maybe). To overpower the sun, you will need more (depends on flash distance). But the idea of buying a large light for just in case we need it, but always having to turn it down so much for portraits, if we even can, is not the best plan (color changes with power level). Instead of always suffering with the degree of a too-large light, the need is for different lights for such different purposes. 150 to 300 watt seconds is plenty for living room portraits, and 75 watt second speedlights usually can do a very creditable job (in umbrellas, they will be working near full power level, so with a couple of seconds recycle time between shots).

Inexpensive studio lights

We can pay $1000 or $2000 for one monolight, and some users do. At a more affordable level, the $500 Einstein has much attention now. But the inexpensive ones create light too, and just to offer an idea of the concept, the way I interpret the specs on some popular inexpensive monolights is:

My own choice was Alienbees, because they are fully featured with a wonderful reputation, and I’m very pleased with them, but the point here is NOT to recommend a flash. The point is to cause awareness of certain features, or the lack of them. That awareness will be the recommendation.

This group of inexpensive USA flashes do not work on 240 volts AC. These are USA sources, with advantage of being very reputable firms which stand behind them.

A few terms for beginners:

Auto Dump: (Not applicable to speedlights. Speedlights are always recycled to Full voltage, regardless of power setting).
When adjusting power lower, the (voltage controlled studio) flash has to discharge the flash capacitor partially to reach the lower voltage level. Otherwise you have to trigger the flash once, as voltage won't change until it recycles next time. Auto Dump means the flash automatically does this, without flashing.
The Impact limited Auto Dump means the flash does it, but by actually automatically flashing when you turn power down.
The Flashpoint specs don't spec Auto Dump.
The Alienbees are real Auto Dump. They don't flash when power is turned down, Auto Dump just bleeds the voltage off automatically when power setting is lowered. Speedlights don't need Auto Dump, not an issue for them (speedlights always start at full power, but then quench the light off sooner to limit the power). All but the cheapest studio lights do Auto Dump. Auto Dump can take a 2 or 3 seconds to discharge, until the Ready LED shows, but it is automatic, and it only occurs when you adjust power down, and then your next shot won't surprise you.

Fan cooling: Prevents damage from overheating, and allows more rapid flash shots (assuming recycle time allows it). With no fan, the Impacts include substantial damage warnings about heat, say to allow it to cool after rapid flashing. All fans are not equal and speedlights don't have fans, and heat is a problem for them too, but all but the cheapest studio lights will have a fan.

Flash Duration for voltage controlled monolights is fastest (shortest) at full power, and is roughly twice longer at minimum power. ISO standards for flash duration is spec’d at t.5 values, which measures the time between the 50% power points (so it actually lasts substantially longer). A t.1 spec measures between the 10% power points and mathematically is 3 times longer than t.5.
Speedlights, except for the one full power level, chop off their trailing tail abruptly to reduce both power and duration, which compares more like t.1 values. See speedlight description (two pages there).

Recycle time is longest at full power (the value shown), and much faster at lower power. Recycle time is the "recharge" time between shots, before the next shot can work right. A larger flash has a larger capacitor that takes longer to refill, but also a larger flash power supply and efficiency affects recycle time. Recycle time is often near instantaneous at low power, but can take a couple of seconds at full power. There will be a “Ready Light” indicating recycle is complete and ready to use again. The available power will be low if not ready.

The cheapest imports may not have auto dump, or a fan, and probably recycle slower, or power may not turn down low enough, or flash duration will be slower, or may have tiny modeling lights. Check availability of flash tubes, the cheapest do not have replaceable flash tubes. Don't assume unspecified features exist. The unknown Chinese brands can't offer any support for repair or parts or warranty. A reseller might provide a warranty claim for them, but those odds are low. But the low price to replace essentially makes them expendable.

Please know that comparing guide numbers or exposures (like f/8 at full power) can be very misleading, because output depends on the reflector too — how the reflector choice distributes the power over a large field. For example, speedlights have a different guide number at every zoom value. Efficiency is a factor too, but a wider angle reflector requires more power to illuminate the wide area than a flash with a more narrow reflector, which concentrates a narrow brighter beam. This reflector point is a big deal.

B&H (Impact) and Adorama (Flashpoint) are online retailers of the highest reputation, and these imported lights are their house brands. They do not manufacture flashes, and I suspect they don't offer any service, but they can offer warranty, at least on their house brand. Very different than Ebay sellers with no contact data. Alienbees are direct sales only from the manufacturer www.paulcbuff.com in Nashville, who has influenced flash design for decades. They are the most popular brand sold in the U.S., and their service, including after warranty, is simply legendary. See Google Alienbees or Einstein.

Another difference is that studio lights all use different systems of attaching lighting modifiers, such as softboxes or grids, etc., so we have to use what fits. Exception is that umbrellas should mount on all lights (except Elinchrom uses a special 7 mm hole for their umbrellas, so the standard 8 mm umbrella shaft diameter will not fit them). So there are differences in the selection and range and prices of modifiers available to fit each light. If anticipating that you will grow your hobby, you might check ahead that a plentiful choice of options are available. It may also be instructive to check price and availability of parts, like replacement flash tubes or other parts.

The camera cannot meter manual flash. It's not hard to tweak in exposure of one light by eye, maybe two, but a flash light meter will be extremely useful for multiple lights (used to set each light to a precisely known power relationship, called lighting ratio). I also use the same PC sync cord to meter each light individually. It's not just about exposure, it's easy to tweak the camera exposure by eye, but this is also about setting the lighting ratio, the known difference in the lights, to produce the specific desirable gradient tonal shading.

Studio portrait basics for flashes

Lighting ratio is a very important control. We don't just set two lights out there on either side of camera. Instead, there are two important properties of Main and Fill, about intensity and location:

• The Fill light is set to be one or 1.5 stops weaker than the Main light (speaking of color photo work). Typically for flash (speedlights or studio lights), we set these power levels appropriately by metering them individually at the subject so that this will be true. Ratio is very important to lighting, to create the smooth gradient tonal shading. However, note that ratio applies to one-face portraits because that's possible to control. Groups necessarily seek more even lighting.
• The Main light is positioned typically to be maybe 45 degrees high and wide from subjects nose. This angle makes intended shadows on the face, and these tonal shading gradients are intended to desirably show shape and curves (i.e., to NOT be flat lighting).
• But even with an umbrella up close to be a soft light, the shadows are a bit harsh, so we add a frontal fill light to lighten them. This fill light is desirably very near the lens axis (back near the camera) to light exactly what the lens sees, without adding its own second set of shadows. This fill light is set to be one or 1.5 stops lower intensity than the main, both metered at the subject. We want to see some degree of shading gradients on the face from the main light at an angle, but (with exceptions) just not very dark and obvious. I have a portrait setup page if interested.

My choice was that I have four Alienbees (two each 160 WS and 320 WS). Inexpensive (primarily because they are sold direct by manufacturer in Nashville), but these are the good inexpensive ones. Fully featured, and extremely decent performance wise. I've used them ten years, and they are still a pleasure to use and all that I need. One did finally fail recently, but a $40 repair charge (including shipping) fixed it fast (Their service is a superb legend). Four lights are used for Main, Fill, background, and hair. Since the Main light is usually placed very close (my 160 watt seconds in a Large 42" softbox at about 30 inches, and then ISO 100 f/8 is nearer to 1/4 power than to 1/2 power). My Fill light umbrella is back above the camera, maybe ten feet. In that case, I would suggest one choice is starting with one 160 WS light, and one 320 WS light. Then you're ready for most indoor things, and if you get into it, you'll probably add more lights later. You can always meter them to set them equal if desired, but if you're just going to put one light on either side of camera, you'd probably prefer two identical lights. But the Main/Fill concept is a different subject, and much better lighting.

A summary

Continuous lights - Incandescent and CFL

• Movie video requires continuous light, but still pictures do not.
• Best advantage is that we can see the continuous light (to aim it), and the camera can meter it. Which could be a preference for still shots allowing slow shutter speeds, for product work or tabletops, but not for portraits.
• Inexpensive. Speaking of portraits, there might be someone that disagrees, but I'd say hardly worth it. You will upgrade to flash soon, so any time and cost could be better spent.
• A big minus, inadequate light level to have much shutter speed, a continuous struggle unless using uncomfortably high ISO.
• Incandescent is quite hot, literal heat, heating the room, no fun. Multiple CFL bulbs are awkwardly large, and not the best spectrum.
• LED lights are small (low light levels). Bigger ones are quite expensive. They have similar spectrum problems as CFL.
• If you will have much use, you will prefer to use flash for indoor portraits. That surely involves buying a light meter to meter each manual flash unit, but then you will love it.

Speedlights (flash)

• Minimal power level, runs on AA batteries, but portable, and workable, and certainly arguably adequate, certainly vastly more light than continuous.
  ISO 100 f/8 1/200 second in a white reflected umbrella is ordinarily possible (at speedlight maximum power level), if the umbrella is where it should be ("as close as possible", subject can reach out and touch the light stand pole). A close light is brighter, and also appears larger to the subject, which is a softer light (a good rule of thumb is the size of the umbrella or softbox should compare to its distance from subject... A four foot light at four feet will be desirably soft, and will light about a four foot area.) ISO 200 helps, to allow half power and faster recycle. But very much ISO will start to pick up the orange incandescent ambient light.
• Working near full power level in an umbrella, the problem will be a slow recycle (waiting for next shot). Rapid firing speedlights can overheat then easily (causing internal damage) unless cooling time is observed.
• A $60 or $100 manual speedlight is inexpensive. Rarely necessary, but a couple of speedlights can be ganged in one umbrella (double power is one stop increase).
• Keeping up with recharging the AA batteries is one downside, but it does make them portable, not tied to a power cord.
• Modifiers other than umbrellas are... let's say quite difficult to mount. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with umbrellas, and speedlights do work well in umbrellas. Softboxes less so... because speedlights have the non-removable Fresnel lenses striving for more output. But studio light goals are about soft light, and studio lights are used bare bulb inside softboxes... 180 degree light filling the softbox, instead of a speedlight making a bright spot on the front fabric.
• TTL - Speedlights are normally used as manual power in a studio fixed situation, but there are systems that can be TTL, which the camera can meter (main and fill could meter TTL, but background or hair lights are NOT suitable for TTL metering, and using more than a couple of TTL lights is a problem anyway). There really is much to be said for the full control of a flash meter and manual lights for studio sessions, to know your lights are doing exactly what you planned.

Studio lights (flash)

• Power. A small studio light (150 watt second class) is twice the power of a speedlight. Twice is one stop, and it makes a difference (especially with the recycle and cooling advantages too). FWIW, my normal use is a main light of 160 watt seconds, in a large 40x32 inch double baffled softbox, turned down near 1/4 power at ISO 100 f/8. It is placed close for softness, at about arms length from the subjects face (around 30 inches, a distance near the size of the softbox is the plan). Larger lights are plentiful, and it's easy to end up with too much power, hard to turn down far enough to use them. More than 320 watt seconds seems a questionable decision for a beginning portrait setup, it just has to be turned down even more. Certainly there are distance reasons for more power, but living room portraits is not one of them. Excessive power will be quite awkward for living room portraits.
• Lighting Modifiers. Studio lights can easily mount softboxes, grids, snoots, umbrellas, barn doors, gels, whatever (those available to fit the light). The lights are made for this purpose. Accessories do add to the cost, and it's easy to overdo with stuff we'll never use. Start slow, have an actual need for it first.
• Fast recycle. Faster at full power, but the power is enough that it usually turned down substantially, and recycle is often near instantaneous.
• Fan cooling provides better duty cycle, which can shoot pretty fast repeatedly without having to baby them. Speaking of reasonable short periods, not abuse of repetition.
• Modeling lights help to aim the flash to setup the lighting, but seeing exact ratio is arguable. A flash meter can do that part better. The modeling light was necessary for film, and it is still a help, but now we can see a final test shot on the camera rear LCD. Modeling lights can often be "proportional", their intensity varying to follow the flash power level, but a little 150 watt incandescent light bulb turned down to 1/4 power does Not leave much to see, and incandescent varies differently than flash anyway. We can see shadows and catch lights, but you will still want to see a flash test shot for ratio.
• Studio lights are manual power mode, and multiple lights really need a light meter to make setup easy, accurate and repeatable. Simply set the main light to meter maybe f/8. The fill light maybe f/5.6. The background light maybe to f/8 too, or f/11 if it is white (but a hair light depends on hair color, you can meter a starting point, but it will require attention in a test shot). If doing this setup of multiple lights a few times a year, do plan on a light meter. A meter is day and night better and easier and faster, and then we know exactly what we are doing (and I'll repeat, then it is repeatable.)
• We're not talking about expensive pro gear, but there are better brands of the inexpensive stuff which are awesome too. The cheapest junk is no bargain, but the expensive stuff seems unnecessary unless maybe it is earning money for you. There is modest gear with a great reputation (and cheap junk exists too).

Certainly any flash is greatly more light than continuous bulbs, allowing desirable camera settings like low ISO and stopped down aperture. You've seen what your hot shoe flash can do. But using flash has differences, especially metering, may require a bit of getting used to.

Flash spooks some, but it's easy if you let it be easy. Flash is an added light that we control. If result is too bright, turn it down. If not bright enough, turn it up. When you realize this is YOUR job now, it becomes easy. If using manual flashes, a light meter helps a lot (especially true for multiple lights), to actually know what we're doing. If TTL, flash compensation is how we control what the camera is doing. If not at the right angle, move it so it is. Make it be like you want it. This does not happen automatically, so the first thing to realize is that it is YOU that has to control this. If you're willing to get involved, then flash is not hard.

We can't see the flashes lighting effect except in a test picture (rear LCD of camera). Bigger studio lights have 250 watt incandescent modeling lights in them, which help to see shadows and catch lights, but the illumination levels probably won't show accurate ratio, so a test picture is the final word. Incidentally, these modeling lights can be left on during the picture, without even affecting the flash picture.. because they are too dim for say f/8 1/200 ISO 100, a very black picture without the flash. The flash overwhelms them. This is something you should verify once, pull the camera sync cord and take the same picture without flash, just modeling lights on. Then at your sessions regular exposure, you want to see a black picture, because incandescent lights are orange.

The camera cannot meter flash (TTL systems excepted). You can use a handheld incident meter, which are fabulous, and precise, or you can trial and error tweak it in (for one or maybe two lights, but more lights need a meter, to have a clue about ratio, and to easily reproduce the same setup next time). Tweaking the camera exposure without a meter is easy, but the advantage of the meter is in setting the power of multiple lights to their exact known relationships... lighting ratio. A common plan is the Main light is quite close, high, and towards the side (maybe near 45 degrees wide, and up to 45 degrees high, from subject). A Fill light is more frontal, near the lens axis, which has to be back by the camera so the lens can see around its umbrella. For color images, the Fill is often set about one stop less bright at the subject than the main light (ratio). For TTL with the Commander, just set the fill group to -1 EV compensation. Equal lights are flat, normally a bad thing for portraits.

There are many choices, and also other ways, but my notion is a speedlight in a softbox simply doesn't fit. Light does come out, but studio lights are used bare bulb in softboxes (180 degree wide light), which does not describe the focused Fresnel lens on speedlights. And speedlights cannot hold up the softbox (as studio lights do). Speedlights do work very well in an umbrella. Just for an idea, my notion of a good low price starter kit for two speedlights is:

• Smith Victor UK2 Umbrella Kit. These will be excellent for umbrellas on either speedlights or the monolights above. However, large softboxes will need stronger stands than these, with wider footprint.
• Quantity one for each speedlight used: Good shoes: Stroboframe Accessory Shoe (These are great, but there are less expensive brands, still of similar construction).
• Speedlights: (maybe you already have a suitable one)

  Quantity at least Two: Yongnuo YN-560 IV speedlite flash $85 each (good and inexpensive choice). These are manual flashes for studio use, however IMO everyone still needs one TTL flash for walk-around bounce use, which can be also used in manual mode here. Quantity two is for Main and Fill lights, and if Background and Hair lights, then two more.

• Or maybe Quantity Two: Yongnuo YN-565EX flash $81 each (will do remote TTL from the Nikon Commander, or will do Manual flash too). Commander is standalone, does not use any radio trigger. It is quick setup, but two lights will likely be the maximum this way. For learning any serious portrait effort, I'd suggest regular manual flash mode (for the greater control if you have a flash meter). But TTL lights really won't measure the light ratio setup, unless maybe you have a system like the Nikon Commander AWL gear.
• For manual flash, get the camera out of Auto ISO. Manual flash cannot work with Auto ISO. IMO, the optimum settings for indoor portrait sessions is low ISO 100, high shutter speed near Maximum Sync speed, and aperture stopped down, at least near f/5.6 to f/8. This means the ambient light is shut out and will not affect your lighting setup. A test shot taken in the setup but with the flashes Not triggered will be a black frame (no ambient recorded), even if the studio modeling lights are on.
• Be advised that an incident light meter will be an extremely pleasant and useful tool to set each manual flash to a known power level so you can actually control both exposure and lighting ratio (meaning set the Fill light maybe 1 EV lower than the Main light, metered at the subject, for pleasing light ratio). Once you have such a meter to make this possible, you will know it is necessary. You can setup and meter the lights before the subject arrives. I would suggest the Sekonic-L-308X-U-Flashmate I've used the older L-308S for several years, and it's wonderful, very easy to use and accurate, and will do all you need. You can easily set each manual flash to within 0.1 EV on power, ratio, and exposure. It will work great outdoors too, but many users won't use a separate meter outdoors, only because they have the camera metering, but it will do that job very well too. Incident meters have the advantage of measuring the light directly, without ever seeing the subject, nor any of the problems of the subjects reflected light varying intensity with the color reflecting it. Incident meters normally meter correctly, but reflected meters, not so much. But incident meters must measure at the subject (in the subjects light), which is trivial indoors, but more problem outdoors.
• Quantity One set: Optional. Radio triggers Yongnuo RF-603NII-N3 Wireless Flash Trigger Kit for Nikon D90 / D7000 / D7100 / D5000 / D5100 / D5200 / D3100 / D3200 / D600 $30 for package of two transceivers (needs 4 AAA alkaline batteries). Get the version for your camera model, for Canon, or -N1 for 10-pin D300, D700, D800, D4, etc. The cable is only for the remote shutter function, not used for flash. A transceiver can be either the transmitter on camera hot shoe, or it can be the receiver on the flash. Only one package of two transceivers is needed, because the second flash can use its slave mode (triggered in sync from the flash of the radio flash). If you did want another radio trigger for it, you only need one more transceiver, total of three... one on camera hot shoe and one on each flash. But the flashes slave will do the job.

  However, my own preference if indoors is for optical slave triggers, which many speedlights and all studio flashes come equipped with. With optical slaves, you just trigger one flash (which could even be the camera's internal flash), and it triggers the rest. Radio triggers are an optional expense. I only mention them because people imagine they need them, but I don't use a radio trigger indoors. They are just something else that needs to be messed with (more connections, settings, batteries, etc). Studio lights already include good optical slaves, and many speedlight models do too, which work great indoors, but outdoors in bright sun can be an issue. I just use a PC sync cord to the fill light which is right at the camera. Then its flash easily triggers the optical slaves on all the other lights. They have always worked perfectly for me, with no hassle (indoors). The same PC sync cord is also used with the light meter to trigger and meter the individual lights. See some setup and metering descriptions. You can add a PC connector to a camera without one with a hot shoe adapter, like the Nikon AS-15.

• Panasonic or Fujitsu Eneloop low discharge batteries (for speedlights, and you will need a battery charger). Or you can use alkaline batteries, which will recycle slower.

  It's a longer story, but Sanyo developed the Eneloop batteries and they were wonderful. Then Pansonic bought Sanyo, and Panasonic is making Eneloops in China now. But Japan said the Eneloop patents had to remain in Japan, so the Eneloop patents were instead sold to Fujitsu, who make them in Japan. Both are quality batteries. It appears the name Eneloop remained with Panasonic, and Fujitsu does not name them Eneloops, but Fujitsu owns the patents. My old Sanyo Eneloops are still performing well, but I'll try Fujitsu next time.

• Porta Brace White Balance Card ($5 at B&H or Adorama), to correct white balance, which is quite important. The Whibal brand white balance card is possibly technically better, as they claim to test each card, and it costs a little more. Not a thing wrong with either. You need to realize that the WB color of flashes varies with brand, and varies with flash power level, and varies with flash tube age and use. The camera may imagine all flash is 5400K, but that is merely it's assumption, not what the flash actually is. So it's a crap shoot, but easy to fix. Being able to properly correct white balance is very important. Precise correction is easy with a White Balance card (and a software tool to click it).
• For raw, you can place the WB card in the subjects light in only the first test picture (subject holds it at their chest for that first test shot), and then easily adjust all session pictures from it (clicking the card in that first test image and applying correction to all session images).
• For JPG, you can do that too. Or you could put the card in the subjects lighting once, and aim the camera on it, to set camera Preset WB.
• For portraits in JPG, get the camera profile out of Vivid or Landscape. That is too extreme. Try Portrait or maybe Neutral. Raw images allow adjusting white balance later, when you can see it. This makes raw be the easy way to perfect your photos.
• With one light, or maybe two, you might get by guessing at trial and error exposure, but you really will want a light meter, certainly for more than two lights. It is an major expense, but the meter makes setup so easy and fast and precisely repeatable. The Sekonic L-308S is an excellent but less expensive choice, fully capable of this studio use. See a discussion of it.

This setup will work. Except, you may need to provide a background behind the subject (a few feet back to eliminate shadows on it), which can be many things... whatever you want to see there. Maybe a purchased muslin or seamless paper background, but it can be a wall, a fireplace, a white sheet or foam board, etc. White things farther from the light will look gray unless you provide another background light for it. Another option is to provide a hair light, from high behind, to highlight the hair, and/or to separate dark hair from a dark background. This is a sparkle in the hair, like catch lights are sparkles in the eyes. A sheet of letter size paper, wrapped long ways around the speedlight head with a piece of tape, can make a snoot tube to project a narrow beam of light (keeping it off of shoulders, etc.) More than two lights is a problem for the camera Commander, but a manual flash system can just use the extra flashes slave, easiest thing.

See details about mounting speedlights in umbrellas. Umbrella shaft length is proportional to umbrella size, and my notion to fill the umbrella is 24 mm zoom on the speedlight, with it mounted back near full shaft length.
See a typical portrait lighting setup.

I'm hoping this is useful information to newbies wanting to do portraits.

Menu of other Photo pages